Jay Carney's pep talk on Senate Dems' midterm prospects

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during his daily news briefing at the White House on Feb. 18. (Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

If Republicans and Democrats had locker rooms, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney may have offered the first bulletin board quote of this midterm election season:

The Democratic Party is not going to lose control of the Senate in our view, and that’s precisely because of policies that (President Obama) and Democrats support that are focused on expanding opportunity as opposed to repealing benefits,.

Carney’s comment was spurred by a question during Tuesday’s White House briefing about former Obama political guru David Axelrod’s comments that Democratic donors are too worried about the 2016 presidential race when their eyes should be on 2014:

With the Senate seriously at risk, and the Koch Brothers spending prodigiously, shouldn't Dem funders be focused on '14 and not '16 races?

Axelrod sounded the alarm again to The New York Times on Monday. Outside pro-Republican groups, most notably the Charles and David Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, have spent more than $20 million on advertising targeting Senate races.

“This is a serious threat. And it would behoove Democratic activists and donors who are whipped up about 2016 to shift their focus, or they may be sitting here in November, looking at a Republican Senate to go along with the House,” Axelrod said.

Carney, for his part, downplayed the idea that Obama may share his former strategist’s point of view. The president will be fully engaged in assisting Senate Democrats in the months ahead, but his top priority is creating opportunities to help Americans improve their lot.